Mortdred
Ah, dear sweet Mortdred. While his Darkling Lord cohorts loftily aim for supremacy on Prysmos, his more important ambition is staying in his benevolent master Darkstorm's good graces. This undying loyalty is ludicrously dismissed by nonbelievers as bootlicking sycophantry, which the ingrate Merklynn rubbed in further by relegating him to the offensive totem of the Beetle. All is not lost for the perseverant Mortdred, though. He will instill fear in those infernal Spectral Knights as the pilot of the mighty Sky Claw, until the day he becomes the first inductee into Darkstorm's exclusive Hall of Valor. Fiction ---- 'Animated Series' :Voice actor: Jonathan Harris Mortdred had the great honour of working as the lord Darkstorm’s personal assistant. He was announcing visitors to Darkstorm’s court when Merklynn arrived and spoke of a quest for magic. Mortdred was as disbelieving as his master. However, while spying on Leoric of New Valarak, he saw Merklynn again speak of magic and that Leoric intended to take up the quest. Flying back to Castle Darkstorm on a hang glider, Mortdred informed his wise master of his adversary's plans. He soon accompanied Darkstorm and Reekon on the quest through Iron Mountain to Merklynn’s shrine. The cunning Darkstorm, lord of the veldt, decided that they should hinder the progress of other questing knights. Therefore, Mortdred aided Reekon in cutting a down a rope bridge Arzon and others were crossing and later called out for help to delay Leoric, Feryl and Ectar. After becoming separated from Darkstorm, king of the bleaklands, Mortdred got lost in the mountain’s maze, but regrouped with his master and new allies to set an ambush for the knights of New Valarak. Upon reaching Merklynn’s shrine, Mortdred was bestowed with the totem of the Beetle. Mortdred was part of the group, led by the divine Darkstorm, that captured the knight Arzon. He was bestowed with the honour of going to the local scrapyard to find more iron with which to make shackles for Darkstorm's despicable enemies. An argument between Mortdred and the unscrupulous Reekon promptly turned into a scuffle, during which the pair discovered a dead vehicle that was brought back to life by their magical touch. Forgetting the scrap metal, Mortdred and Reekon delivered the new Sky Claw to Darkstorm, albeit by crashing it into his war room. Mortdred was nonetheless ecstatic that his ability to pilot the vehicle meant he was still useful to his leader. As the glorious Darkstorm stepped up his campaign against the other knights, Mortdred played a key part in each raiding party, piloting the Sky Claw. When Darkstorm laid siege to New Valarak, it was Mortdred who was blessed with the important task of delivering his lord's demand of surrender to Valarak's leader Leoric - via catapult. His benevolent offer of mercy disregarded, Darkstorm took the city by force, with Mortdred helping to subdue Leoric himself. 'Star Comic Series' Mortdred was given the great honour of being prime lieutenant to Darkstorm, leader of his own glorious domain. When Darkstorm fulfilled his divine destiny to receive great power from the wizard Merklynn's quest, Mortdred was seen worthy of accompanying him and aiding delaying the progress of other knights. One instance of this say Mortdred feign calling for help so as to attract the attention of Leoric, Ectar and Feryl, allowing Darkstorm to get ahead of them. This earned Mortdred the totem of the Beetle to a round of mocking laughter. Mortdred wasn't worthy enough to get a power staff, however, but this mattered not, as it meant he was still able to run important errands for his lord Darkstorm, like getting his armour repaired. While doing this, he saw the Sky Claw vehicle in Harkon's workshop and discovered that he was able to activate and pilot it. Pleased that he was now even more valuable to Darkstorm, he proudly showed it off to his lord. Later, when the foul mercenary Reekon bad-mouthed Darkstorm, Mortdred stood up for his lord's honour and attacked the reptile. For this, he was justly punished by the divine Darkstorm. Looking to get back in his favour, Mortdred took the Sky Claw to New Valarak to attack the Spectral Knights. However, the attack didn't go to plan, with Mortdred losing the Sky Claw and injuring Darkstorm, for which he found himself thrown into the dungeon. While infiltrating New Valarak for information on a mysterious scroll, Mortdred and Reekon stole back the Sky Claw. Mortdred was present when Cindarr decided to leave Castle Darkstorm to chase his dream woman. He reminded Cindarr that permission was needed to leave the Domain, but received only a kick from the ingrate. 'Storybooks' Mortdred and the other Darkling Lords dared laugh at Darkstorm's grand plan of annexing Merklynn's shrine and using its power to rule supreme over Prysmos, until they were silenced by the threat of his Decay staff. He chauffeured his fearless leader to Iron Mountain in the Sky Claw while his cohorts followed on foot. Inside the mountain, Mortdred and the Darkling Lords were close to eradicating those pesky Spectral Knights once and for all until Merklynn's shameless interference on their behalf turned the tables, forcing him and his Darkling comrades to flee. While flying the Sky Claw over a desert plain, Mortdred spotted Galadria in possession of the Mystical Mirror of Prysmos, a relic that spoke aloud the thoughts of anyone who looked into it. Certainly it was of high value and would earn him a well-deserved reward for bringing it to his master, so he deftly swooped downward and forced the defenseless Spectral Knight to take cover behind a boulder. Galadria was no match for Mortdred's aerial tactics as he then blasted the rock to smithereens and summoned the bird of prey from the Sky Claw's side pod to ferry her and the mirror to Darkstorm's domain. However, the mirror's blatant lies, which included interpreting Mortdred's thoughts as his wanting to supplant the mighty Darkstorm as Darkling Lord leader, threatened to fray their strong alliance. When Galadria was then freed by Arzon, Mortdred's attempt to destroy them both in the Sky Claw was derailed by Ectar shooting down his aircraft. He managed to land close enough to New Valarak so the wretched mirror could be dumped at the city gates and become the Spectral Knights' problem. Toys ---- *'Sky Claw with Mortdred' (1987) **''Accessories:'' Scythe, helmet. : Purple over sky blue, Mortdred's armour is sculpted as a series of overlapping plates, similar to medieval plate mail (but much sparser). His face is sculpted with an exceptionally pointed nose. : His chest hologram depicts an unknown type of beetle, displayed on the plate in its entirety in a bird's-eye-view angle. 'Merchandise' ---- To be added 'Notes' ---- * Mortdred's weapon is often referred to as a scythe due to its curved blade, which is something of a misnomer. It is more similar in design to a sword, with the short handle, hand guard, hilt and cutting edge being on the outside of the blade - the opposite of a scythe. It's probably better to refer to it as a 'saw-toothed scimitar'. * In both the box art for the unreleased Iron Mountain playset and photographs of its prototype, Mortdred is shown holding a power staff adorned with a skull symbol that is unrelated to the design of any power staff ultimately released, nor slated for the 1988 waves. * Mortdred's name is often misspelt with a double-D at the end. This is a surprisingly prevalent mistake, given that it is consistently spelt with a single D on the Sky Claw packaging and in the Star comic series, the two most prominent consumer-direct depictions of his name. It is spelt "Mortdredd" in the scripts for the animated series, but as these were internal documents, that spelling should be considered incorrect. 'References' Category:Characters Category:Darkling Lords Category:Visionaries